Insurance | LIC

LIC AAO 2026 cycle (notification awaited)

Officer-cadre recruitment into LIC, held in three stages: a qualifying Preliminary exam, a Main exam with a descriptive paper, and an interview.

Awaiting notification5 stagesSectional timing1 free mock test

Overview

Conducting body: LIClicindia.in
Age limit: 21 to 30 years
Application fee: ₹85 to ₹700
Vacancies: To be announced
First stage duration: 1 hr
Negative marking: None

Life Insurance Corporation of India Assistant Administrative Officer is conducted by Life Insurance Corporation of India. Selection runs through 5 stages: Preliminary Examination, Main Examination (objective), Main Examination (descriptive), Interview, Pre-recruitment medical examination.

Clear the Preliminary examination, in which only Reasoning Ability and Quantitative Aptitude count and English Language is qualifying.
Qualify the Main examination, which has an objective paper of 300 marks and a qualifying descriptive English paper of 25 marks.
Attend the interview at a LIC zonal office.
The final merit list combines the objective Main examination and the interview; the Preliminary examination and the descriptive paper are only qualifying.
Clear the pre-recruitment medical examination before appointment.

Important dates

Important dates
Event	Date	Status
2026 recruitment notification Not yet released. LIC's previous AAO cycle concluded with its final result in April 2026, and the next notification is widely expected in the second half of 2026, on the careers section of licindia.in. Every date on this page is therefore indicative until the official advertisement appears; watch the portal rather than any secondary site.	To be announced	Not announced
Online registration window Opens with the notification. LIC has typically kept registration open for about three weeks, with the fee payment window running alongside it.	To be announced	Not announced
Preliminary examination Usually held a few weeks after registration closes. The exact date, shift and centre are printed on the call letter, released about a week before the exam.	To be announced	Not announced
Main examination Held roughly a month after the Preliminary result, for candidates who clear the screening.	To be announced	Not announced
Interview Conducted at LIC zonal offices for candidates who qualify the Main examination.	To be announced	Not announced

Eligibility

Educational qualification

Open toGraduate

A bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised Indian university for the Generalist post. Specialist and Assistant Engineer posts require a degree in the relevant discipline, and the Chartered Accountant and Actuarial streams require the corresponding professional qualification.

AAO (Legal) needs a law degree with practice experience as specified, AAO (Chartered Accountant) needs ACA membership, and the Actuarial, IT and Rajbhasha streams each have their own qualification. Read the post you are applying for in the notification carefully, since the eligibility differs by stream.

Age

21 to 30 years as on the cut-off date stated in the official notification, which was 1 August in the most recent cycle.

Upper age relaxation

SC and ST+5 years
OBC (non-creamy layer)+3 years
Persons with Benchmark Disability+10 years
AAO (Legal) and AAO (Chartered Accountant), upper limit+2 years

Nationality

A candidate must be one of the following:

A citizen of India
A subject of Nepal or Bhutan
A Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 intending to settle permanently
A person of Indian origin who has migrated from specified countries intending to settle permanently in India

Application fee

Category	Fee
General, OBC and EWS Application fee including intimation charges in the most recent cycle, non-refundable. Confirm the current figure from the 2026 notification.	₹700
SC, ST and PwBD Intimation charges only in the most recent cycle, non-refundable.	₹85

Fees have been stable across recent cycles but are the kind of detail a notification can revise. Confirm on the official notification before paying.

Exam pattern

Stage by stage structure with question counts, marks, timing and the marking scheme.

Stage 1: Preliminary Examination

Computer based testSectional timingQualifying only

Section	Questions	Marks	Time
Reasoning Ability	35	35	20 min
Quantitative Aptitude	35	35	20 min
English Language (qualifying)	30	30	20 min
Total	100	100	1 hr

Duration: 1 hr|Negative marking: None

100 questions in 60 minutes with a separate 20-minute clock for each section.
The English Language section is qualifying only; its marks are not counted for ranking or for the merit into the Main examination.
Only Reasoning Ability and Quantitative Aptitude marks decide who is shortlisted for the Main examination, and those marks are not carried into the final merit list.

Stage 2: Main Examination (objective)

Computer based testSectional timing

Section	Questions	Marks	Time
Reasoning Ability and Computer Aptitude	30	90	40 min
General Knowledge and Current Affairs	30	60	20 min
Data Analysis and Interpretation	30	90	40 min
Insurance and Financial Market Awareness	30	60	20 min
Total	120	300	2 hr

Duration: 2 hr|Negative marking: None

120 questions for 300 marks in 120 minutes, with sectional timing.
For Specialist posts, the Data Analysis and Interpretation section is replaced by a Professional Knowledge paper relevant to the stream applied for.
Marks from the objective Main examination carry into the final merit list alongside the interview.

Stage 3: Main Examination (descriptive)

Descriptive, typedQualifying only

Section	Questions	Marks
English Language: letter and essay writing	2	25
Total	2	25

Duration: 30 min|Negative marking: None

Typed on the computer immediately after the objective Main examination.
Qualifying in nature and evaluated only for candidates who clear the objective cut-off; the marks are not added to the merit list.

Stage 4: Interview

Interview

Duration: Varies|Negative marking: None

Conducted at LIC zonal offices for candidates who qualify the Main examination.
The final merit list is built from the objective Main examination and the interview taken together.

Stage 5: Pre-recruitment medical examination

Document and medicalQualifying only

Duration: Varies|Negative marking: None

Conducted for candidates provisionally selected after the interview, to confirm fitness for appointment.

Syllabus

Every subject in the paper, topic by topic. Open a subject for its weightage in this exam, the full topic list and the mock tests, practice sets and notes that cover it.

Reasoning Ability

Puzzles and seating arrangement
Syllogism and inequality
Coding and decoding
Blood relations and direction sense
Order, ranking and alphanumeric series
Input and output
Statement, assumption and course of action
Computer aptitude fundamentals

Reasoning Ability guide & weightage →

Quantitative Aptitude

Data interpretation: tables, bar, line, pie and caselets
Number series and simplification
Percentage, ratio and proportion
Profit, loss and discount
Simple and compound interest
Time, speed, distance and work
Average, ages, mixture and alligation
Permutation, combination and probability

Quantitative Aptitude guide & weightage →

English Language

Reading comprehension
Cloze test and fillers
Error detection and sentence correction
Para jumbles and sentence rearrangement
Word usage, word swap and vocabulary
Descriptive writing: letter, email, essay and precis

English Language guide & weightage →

General Awareness

National and international current affairs of the previous six to twelve months
Government schemes and budgets
Awards, sports, appointments and books
Static general knowledge: geography, polity and history
Science and technology in the news

General Awareness guide & weightage →

Banking Awareness

History and structure of insurance in India
IRDAI, its role and key regulations
Life insurance products, terms and IRDAI policyholder protection
Financial markets: money market, capital market and instruments
Regulators and institutions: RBI, SEBI and PFRDA
Insurance and financial awareness in current affairs

Banking Awareness guide & weightage →

Computer Aptitude

Computer fundamentals and generations
Hardware, software and memory
Operating systems and MS Office
Internet, networking and security basics

Computer Aptitude guide & weightage →

How to apply

Register on the LIC careers portal
Open the AAO recruitment link on licindia.in, choose New Registration and enter your name, mobile number and email. Save the provisional registration number and password that are generated.
Upload your photograph and signature
Upload a recent photograph and signature, and a thumb impression and handwritten declaration if the notification asks for them, in the sizes and formats specified.
Complete the application form
Fill in personal details, the post and stream you are applying for, qualification, category and examination-centre preferences.
Pay the fee online
Pay by debit card, credit card, internet banking or UPI. Do not close the browser until the e-receipt is generated.
Save the e-receipt and application printout
Download both immediately. You will need the registration number and password again for the call letter and every later stage.

Documents to keep ready

Valid photo identity proof such as Aadhaar, PAN, passport, driving licence or voter ID
Graduation mark-sheets and the degree certificate
Professional qualification certificate for Specialist and Assistant Engineer posts
Caste or EWS certificate in the prescribed format, where applicable
PwBD certificate issued by the competent authority, where applicable
Recent passport-size photograph and signature matching the images uploaded

Salary and job profile

Pay and allowances

Pay scale:: Basic pay in the revised AAO scale, reported at around 88,635 to 1,69,025 rupees.
Initial basic pay:: To be announced
Approximate in-hand:: To be announced

Allowances

Dearness Allowance revised periodically
House Rent Allowance or accommodation
City Compensatory Allowance based on place of posting
Graduation and other special allowances as applicable

Perks

Medical benefits for self and dependants
Group insurance and gratuity
Concessional interest on housing and vehicle loans
Defined contribution pension and leave benefits

Figures follow LIC's wage revision and vary with the city of posting. Treat them as indicative and confirm the current basic pay and gross emoluments from the official notification before relying on them.

What the job involves

Administrative and managerial work across LIC branch, divisional and zonal offices.
New-business underwriting, policy servicing and claims settlement.
Supporting sales through development officers and agents, and customer relationship management.
Accounts, legal, engineering or IT functions depending on the stream of recruitment.
A probation period with in-house training, followed by confirmation as an officer.
Career progression to Administrative Officer, Assistant Divisional Manager and higher management grades.

Previous paper analysis

What was actually asked, topic by topic, so you can see where the marks live.

LIC AAO Prelims 2025: topic weightage and difficulty analysis
Preliminary Examination | overall difficulty moderate

Free mock tests

Written to this exam's pattern, with the same interface, sectional locking and marking scheme you will face on exam day.

LIC AAO: 27-question practice mock
27 questions | 27 min
Start

How to prepare for LIC AAO

The Preliminary examination is only a screen, but its 20-minute sectional clock still fails candidates. Practise Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude as isolated 20-minute sections, since English is only qualifying.
The Main examination rewards Insurance and Financial Market Awareness disproportionately. Learn the basics of IRDAI, life-insurance terminology and the financial-market regulators early, because this section is where LIC candidates gain or lose ground against banking-trained aspirants.
Data Analysis and Interpretation carries 90 of the 300 objective marks for Generalists. Treat it as the highest-yield area and drill two sets a day against a clock.
Keep a single running note of current affairs from the previous year, with a bias towards economy, insurance and government schemes.
Do not neglect the descriptive paper. It is qualifying and easy to leave until last, but a weak letter or essay under a 30-minute clock can undo an otherwise strong objective score.

Practise LIC AAO by topic

Free question banks with worked solutions for the topics LIC AAO tests. Drill one topic at a time, then sit a full mock and keep a daily habit going.

Daily quiz

A fresh mixed set every day to keep every section warm.

Untimed practice drills

Learn a topic with the method shown after every question.

Current affairs

Daily, sourced digests for the general-awareness section.

Frequently asked questions

Is there negative marking in LIC AAO?

LIC has not applied negative marking in its recent AAO notifications, unlike the banking exams. This makes attempting every question worthwhile, but you should confirm the position from the 2026 notification when it is released, because a marking change would alter strategy.

Does the English section count towards selection?

No. The English Language section in the Preliminary examination is qualifying only, and the descriptive English paper in the Main examination is also qualifying. Neither is added to the merit list, though you must clear the cut-off in both.

Do Preliminary examination marks count towards the final selection?

No. The Preliminary examination only shortlists candidates for the Main examination. The final merit list is built from the objective Main examination and the interview taken together.

What is the age limit for LIC AAO?

Between 21 and 30 years as on the cut-off date in the notification, with the usual relaxations of five years for SC and ST, three years for OBC, and ten years for Persons with Benchmark Disability. The Legal and Chartered Accountant streams carry a slightly higher upper limit.

What is the difference between the Generalist and Specialist posts?

Specialist candidates, such as Legal, Chartered Accountant, Actuarial and IT, sit a Professional Knowledge paper in place of Data Analysis and Interpretation in the Main examination, and must hold the professional qualification for their stream. Generalist candidates sit the standard four-section objective paper.

Last verified 11 August 2026(45 days ago, by editorial)

Not yet confirmed for this cycle: the schedule, the vacancy count, the application fee, pay scale, gross pay and negative marking. Where we have a figure from previous cycles we show it and label it as expected; where we do not, the page says "to be announced". Check the official source below before you rely on any of it.

Official sources

LIC of India official website, careers section (official portal)

Found something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it, citing the source.